Things I liked and/or bought:
I switched to Boston Sax Shop Silver Label Tenor Reeds. They play great. I used to use Rico Plasticovered reeds. Not any more.
I think I got several of these this year? Or maybe last year. Anyhow, these are great. Boston Sax Shop Voyager Saxophone Multi-Tool.
I sort of started getting a lot of gigs where I had to do lights and/or lightboard. Hey, I go where the money is. And doing tech happens a lot more than getting hired to play music. It’s entertainment related. One of the things I bought was a cmd_key for EOS. Paired with a laptop and a Gadget II, you can run a DMX light system really easy. It’s been a lifesaver on several jobs.
I also paired down my big x32 rack with DL32 breakout (it was in a 10 unit rack case….a real beast to take places) to an Allen Heath CQ-20B. OMG….this things is literally 3/4th the size of the X32, and does just about everything it can do. It fits in a small bag (I have it in an Apache 4800 case). It sounds great, and can do multitrack recordings. Great little box.
I obtained yet another mic for flute. I have been through several. I was using a Shure Beta 57, then a RE-20. I’ve finally settled on using an Earthworks SR-117 mic. It has a Supercardioid pickup pattern, so it works really well in a noisy environment. It sounds very natural and…..it’s just such a great mic.
I have lots of flashlights. My favorite one right now, for the last few months, has been the Sofirm IF24. It has a great magnetic base, and can function as a work light as well. And it does Red light, so you can keep your nightvision.
Finale was discontinued by MakeMusic. I am still NOT happy about that. However, I did buy Dorico……and it just makes things so much easier. Yes, a little bit of a learning curve. Yes, it does a lot of things for you. But it generally does everything how I’d want them, and the output from this program is stunning. While I have like 20 years worth of Finale files…..and converting them into Dorico is going to be daunting to say the least, all my new stuff has been done in Dorico. And I don’t need to run like 5 different plugins on stuff to make it look good.